


Earth Commonality

by HansBlanke



Category: Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Genre: Blink And You Miss It Slash, Fix-It, Gen, I Ship It, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29881491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HansBlanke/pseuds/HansBlanke
Summary: Bryce develops interest for Tommy's music. For a reason.
Relationships: Nathan Bryce/Thomas Jerome Newton
Kudos: 1





	Earth Commonality

**Author's Note:**

> The only reasons this even exists are: 1) I ship it, 2) I'm horny for Rip Torn. That's it.

Many years ago on this day, Nathan Bryce had been deep in discussion of a space project with a good-looking alien, including asking the stupidest question a human mouth had ever uttered. Many things, not all of them bad, had happened since, and as for now, he was deep head over heels in a space project on his own.

From Bryce’s perspective, not much had changed. Even Tommy was present, in a manner of speaking. His voice was all over the place, fixated on recordings of many kinds that were lined on the shelves. Bryce had been collecting them ever since he heard of Tommy’s music, long before the idea came to him.

The “idea” was now in front of him—something between a long-distance transmitter and a sick science fiction apparatus, all buttons and metal rods and coloured light bulbs, plus a set of drives to read the recordings. Even though today wasn’t the first time he used it, the sight of it gave him a weird feeling that he wasn’t sure what it did. He had built it from scratch, he was sure of every detail, but with those details finally put together, he felt as if all he could do was  _ hope. _

Interstellar signals reached Earth way too often. Bryce had studied them, had even formed a theory about which ones came from actual inhabited planets. He was a scientist, after all. Now he intended to move on and form his own set of signals. 

He plugged in the headphones first, then played the recording for himself. 

“Tell my wife I love her very much—”

_ I’ll try, Tommy. I’ll try. _

He was very careful with his little hobby. As in, it would have been easier to work if he didn’t have to use the headpiece, but he hadn’t installed any speakers for the fear of blasting the music all over the place if he forgot himself. Another weird feeling he had was, he shouldn’t let people know what he was up to.

Not a single soul knew, Tommy included. Tommy, above all, shouldn’t know about this on such early stages. Bryce wanted to do him well, not simply show off the trouble he could get into for him. And so no one knew.

He switched to broadcasting and directed metal rods towards the night sky, fixing them in the right position. His thoughts switched to another project he had on his hands, and a small smile curved his lips. There was so much to do yet, all the finishing and polishing, but if the second thing ever received an answer from the cerulean extent above him, he would know.

And so would Tommy.


End file.
